I spent four years as Forbes' Girl Friday, which to me meant doing a little bit of everything at once. As a member of the Forbes Entrepreneurs team, I looked at booming business and startup life with a female gaze. I worked on the PowerWomen Wealth and Celebrity 100 lists, keeping my ears pricked and pen poised for current event stories--from political sex scandals to celebrity gossip to international affairs. In 2012 I helped to put two South American women on the cover of FORBES Magazine: Modern Family star Sofia Vergara (the top-earning actress on U.S. television) and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is transforming the BRIC nation into an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Prior to Forbes I was at the Philadelphia CityPaper, where I learned more than any girl ever needs to know about the city's seedier trades. I studied digital journalism at The University of The Arts.
I left Forbes in November, 2013, to pursue other interests on the West Coast.

Lunchtime Quick Fixes: Hour-Long Beauty Breaks

My name is Meghan, and I am an addict. One month ago I spent my lunch hour in a tiny office high above Soho’s shopping district. Upon entering I was welcomed by two pretty young women who took off my shoes and asked me to lay down. They covered me with a blanket and I soon drifted off into a dreamless, blissed out sleep.

When I woke up I was ten times prettier (seriously, see photo).

While I dozed, those brilliant and nimble-fingered young women glued 70 individual lashes to each eye in under and hour. The results were as dramatic as I could have hoped—I felt like a Kardashian and I haven’t work mascara since. Looking back, I don’t think I even grabbed a sandwich that afternoon, but I can say in all honesty that it was the best-spent lunch hour of my young, employed life.

This post is about taking back the lunch hour—and putting it to good use. We all know the drill. We spend the hour between 12 and one with a fork in one hand and a memo in the other, or we duck out to the deli next door in a mad dash to get back to our desks before the phone rings. And many people prefer their lunch spent that way. “I’d rather eat at my desk,” a friend recently told me. “It’s much more efficient.” “Fair enough,” I agreed, “But when was the last time you had your eyebrows done?”

Call me shallow, but I call me effective: a lunch hour is the perfect amount of time to take care of some very basic beauty needs–teeth, skin, hair and health—that we so often overlook. Of course, there’s the mani-pedi combo, but my friend and colleague Clare O’Connor’s dirty little secret is that she occasionally puts her lunch hour to use for a wash-and-set at nearby drybar. “They only offer washes and blowdrys,” she says, “And you’re in and out in a half hour for less than you’d pay at a full-service salon — $40 versus, say, $60.”

Here, eight health-and-beauty tasks that can be achieved in under 60 minutes—and deliver immediate, dramatic effects.

Booty Dropping

We know no cellulite-removal claim is 100% accurate, so we were skeptical about this one, but as far as quick-fixes go, Liposonix, an ultrasound-based technology, seems just good enough to be true. Dr. Mitchell Chasin, the medical director for New Jersey-based Reflections, a center for plastic surgery and aesthetics, says that the procedure is ideal for active and healthy people “who have at least one inch of fat to lose in their abdomen, flanks, thighs, bra area, or anywhere on the body where there’s an inch to pinch.” (Don’t we all?)

The treatment is totally non-invasive and takes less than an hour, so he says it’s a great solution for people who aren’t interested in a more invasive procedure like liposuction. The results? The doctor claims “one dress size in one hour with only one treatment.”

Blowout

While O’Connor touts Drybar, we thought we’d go to the source for just how lunch-time appropriate a blowout is. “Our clients love the affordable luxury of getting a great blowout at a great price,” says Alli Webb, the founder of the company which boasts 15 locations–and counting–in major U.S. metros. “Not only do they leave looking great, but feeling great and confident. It’s an addictive combination – because looking and feeling your best is sure to improve the rest of your work day and week.”

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